


We Wouldn’t Want To Be Anywhere Else (or: Mutant Shenanigans In Space)

by InsertSthMeaningful



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Charles Xavier is a Troll, Erik Lehnsherr Is Crushing Harder Than A Twelve-Year-Old Girl, Erik Lehnsherr is a Sweetheart, M/M, Raven And Logan Are So Fed Up With Them, Sassy Charles Xavier, Snark, Some Fluff, Some angst, mutants in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21807448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertSthMeaningful/pseuds/InsertSthMeaningful
Summary: It’s the high time of the Space Age, and a group of mutants plans to set out to where no one has ever been before - past the edge of the Solar System, to found a world where their kind can live in peace. But for that, they need the help of Charles Francis Xavier, renowned scientist and not easy to convince of their cause.Will Erik Lehnsherr get what he wants? Will Charles Xavier get what he wants? And where will their journey lead them?
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 7
Kudos: 35
Collections: Secret Mutant Madness 2019





	We Wouldn’t Want To Be Anywhere Else (or: Mutant Shenanigans In Space)

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [dedkake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dedkake/pseuds/dedkake) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>  space au + sneaking around (bonus: there's no reason to try to keep their relationship secret, they're just trying to find some privacy)
> 
> Hello there, dear dedkake! First of all, thank you for putting up such a lovely prompt ^^ of course, I couldn't resist a Space AU. And sorry for the lack of actual sneaking around ;) the boys try, but you know them: they're just not very good at it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ and with that, I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Oh, and many thanks to the brilliant flightinflame for betaing <3

It was the year 2119, humanity’s colonisation of space had advanced as far as to the outskirts of our solar system, and now you could find the same dingy bars and pubs on the surface of Neptune’s moon Triton as in a completely normal, dubious part of New York City (except that New York City didn’t exist anymore, not exactly, since the humans had pretty much fucked Earth up).

And in front of one of those grimy, seedy bars stood a man. And this man – or, more specifically, mutant – was called Erik Lehnsherr, and he was flanked by his two equally mutant companions, one blue, one red, both of them highly efficient killing machines.

Raven, her scales which were the colour of rich lapis lazuli fluttering as her chest heaved, sighed. “So you’re really sure we have to do this?”

“Do not worry, beautiful,” Azazel butted in with his heavy accent before Erik could reply, “because why else you have me here but to save your asses?”

Raven rolled her eyes, and Erik raised an eyebrow. “Yes, thank you, Azazel.” He glanced at Raven. “We have to try, at least. You don’t want to float through space aimlessly for a few centuries, or do you?”

All he got was an even harder rolling of the eyes (how did the woman do it that her eyeballs didn’t fall right out of her head?) and a huff. Clear to go, then.

When he pushed open the ramshackle door, bad music back from the Earth days floated out, alongside with the smell of a few dozen sweaty, weary and quite certainly sloshed-beyond-belief space travellers. Scrunching up his nose, he straightened his leather jacket and took a step into the gloomy mist, then another one and another one, and finally, his two allies followed reluctantly.

The man they were looking for was known in the whole solar system for his genius, his scientific discoveries, for his knowledge of space which could have filled about a hundred heavy leather-bound encyclopedias and, last but not least, for his preference for strong liquor and bad decisions. He was a telepath, a political incendiary and, according to some people, a complete madman. His name was Charles Francis Xavier.

There was a throng of people gathered around the counter, behind which bottle upon bottle of spirits were lined up neatly and a bartender was just mixing a drink for a young lady with heterochromia. Erik, making sure to lay as much purpose as possible into his step, strode over to the polished bar top, only a few feet from the noisy crowd, braced an elbow on it and watched. Raven and Azazel took a seat on two of the rickety stools and prepared for a long wait.

Indeed, the party didn’t seem to have any specific purpose for the evening in mind. They mingled, they exchanged information, they flirted. Nothing an ordinary space traveller without a real home or a real destination wouldn’t do, and a good drink simply was an unarguable part of this ritual which had developed since the appearance of the first rootless people just bobbing around the solar system. The bartender was serving cocktail after cocktail, a Martini, and Old-Fashioned, a Blood Mary. And, this Erik had to admit, he was good at it. Nimble fingers, a quick smile for every customer, sweeping movements which drew everybody in like moths to a flame. Also, the brunet was a sight for sore space hobo eyes, which seemed to be a big bonus, judging from the generous tips.

But this man wasn’t who they were looking for. No, they were looking for a scientist, a rich one, a snobby one, with so much money he could probably wipe his ass with it and still not be a cent poorer. Why he would reside in such a place as this, Erik had no idea. That was what the madman part was playing at, probably.

Still, the bartender could be of use. Maybe they had Xavier in a broom closet somewhere, supplied with the finest liquor. Everything was possible.

So, Erik started towards the man, pushing through the crowd, earning a few glares and words he wouldn’t have dared tell his mother about, until he was right in front of the brunet who was just handling a shaker with an unearthly grace and smiling brilliantly at whoever he was serving (a young lady, probably, the guy looked like the type to be a Casanova). There, he remained firmly rooted to the ground, until the hooting crowd had gotten the message and was slowly, but surely falling silent.

Noting the change in his audience, the bartender turned from where he was standing on his tiptoes and reaching for a bottle of whiskey (oh, that shirt riding up high over the small of his back should be illegal, and Erik didn’t even want to think about the consequences if he let his gaze wander any further down) and met Erik’s eyes head on.

And then, he smiled, as though Erik was just another soul washed up onto the shore of his pub and starved by the vast emptiness of space. “Why, hello! And what can I get you, sweetheart?”

Shortly, Erik wondered where the man had got the idea for that last part from. It wasn’t like he was wearing the most inviting face in the solar system, quite the opposite, actually, if you believed Raven. “Not a drink.” He leaned forward on his elbows, never breaking eye contact. “But you could get me _a person_.”

This startled a laugh out of the man. “No reason to go all dark and menacing on me, my friend. But I’m afraid, we don’t provide that kind of service here.” Grabbing a towel, he began to rub a long glass in quite an explicit, lewdly mesmerizing way. “You might find such an establishment or two down the street, though.” A look from under his lashes followed, and in the crowd surrounding them, someone giggled.

Erik ground his teeth. “I’m not looking for… _that kind_ of service. I’m looking for a man. Professor Charles Xavier is his name, and we want to speak to him about… an expedition.”

“Ah.” The bartender – he had to be at least ten years younger than Erik, barely in his twenties – continued scrubbing the glass, casually leaning his hip against his side of the counter. “And why do you think you could find him here, of all places? And what does he look like? Have you ever met him?”

The distinct feeling that he was missing something here, something crucial, rose in Erik’s guts, but he answered truthfully. “We were told he’s residing here at the moment, we’ve never met him, but we guessed a man in his fifties or sixties wouldn’t be hard to find amongst the younger space drifters.”

Now, there were definitely people laughing at him, and when he stole a glance over at Raven and Azazel, they were sliding around on their stools like hyenas in a cage. They would have to be careful with estimating when the situation’s tipping point would be reached. It wasn’t like crime was big in the solar system anymore, with the government handling most of the problems that arose with people in space, but a crowd of drifters gathered in a bar and presented with someone they thought they could ridicule had more than once proven to be fatal.

And Erik had no desire whatsoever to be caught up in such a situation. Now, it was either assert dominance or having to draw back quickly. All depended on the bartender’s next words.

And those were “I’m sorry, but you’re the only old man I see in here, so you and your friends over there better go back to the hippy commune you came from,” uttered with quiet, but determined amusement.

Alright. Assert dominance it was. Erik reached over the bar, the crowd gasped and the bartender had one split second to blink before he was dangling over the counter, unceremoniously held aloft by Erik’s hands at his collar.

Erik growled, because he knew how menacing it sounded. “We haven’t come to joke around. Just tell us where we can find Xavier, and we won’t cause you any trouble.”

Everybody’s tension was laced thick in the air, only the bartender himself didn’t look intimidated at all. On the contrary, he was smiling happily, a twinkle in his eyes which were as blue and cold as the purest steel. “Now now, my friend, let’s not get overly excited. Is there anything else you know about this _mysterious Professor Xavier_? Except that he’s said to be an old fart?”

Erik didn’t loosen his grip on the man’s dress shirt (which, now that he had the opportunity to study it closely, seemed to be of higher quality than the usual stuff you got at various space ports, and he wondered briefly what this bartender was earning that he could afford such clothes). “He’s got PhDs in psychology, genetics, astrophysics and astrobiology. He’s rumoured to be a philanthropist and is confirmed to be a thorn in the authorities’ eyes. And he’s a telepath.”

The bar had fallen completely silent.

“Now,” the brunet spoke and licked his lips, “all of these things you just have told me are correct. Except-” He lifted a finger, only inches from Erik’s left eye- “the age thing.” _Because I sure hope I don’t look a year over twenty._

Fingers suddenly weakened, knees eerily shaken, Erik let the man slide from his grasp. A telepath. One who seemingly liked liquor and certainly wasn’t dumb. He let his forearms fall onto the counter-top. “You’re… _him_. Charles Xavier.”

“In the flesh.” The bartender curtsied mockingly, earning a few laughs from the throng of people, and picked up the glass he had been cleaning. “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, to steal a quote from one of my closer friends, _cock_ tail enthusiast and...” He leaned in, propping up his chin on a hand, letting his fingers wander over his lips. “...Mildly interested in your concern.” Finally, he let a wink follow, and then was still.

Erik supposed it was his turn to speak now. He didn’t get far. “We’re here to recruit you on an expedition-”

“Beg your pardon?” Xavier chuckled, leaned back and resumed polishing the glass tumbler. “What kind of expedition could you people possibly be leading? To me, you don’t look like the kind to have the funding for such an undertaking.”

The sharp crack of Azazel’s tail slicing through the air stung in Erik’s ears as he himself bristled. Good. It was time for hard facts, then. “I see. You don’t think highly of us, then. But which society does, anyway?” He turned, scanned the crowd for visible mutations. There were quite a few. “You there, with the snake scales. Have you ever felt accepted? Or you, the one with the bat wings. Are people looking at you funny, too?” He shot Xavier a glance, and with a flourish of his hand, he lifted the metal container with the ice cubes from behind the counter. Sharp intakes of breath came from the people all around. “You and I, Xavier, we are mutants, but at least we don’t look the part. Others are less lucky than us, though. And society lets them feel it, even a century after we were officially recognised as having the same rights and duties as humans. So...” He paused, to let his speech sink in. “We want to go beyond humanity’s boundaries. We are going to find a new planet, and a new home for all mutants.”

Xavier’s eyes were firmly fixed on his when he turned back to face the man. “Ah. So where, pray tell, are you planning to go to? There’s not much solid ground left to claim in our solar system.” He had stopped cleaning the glass, captured by Erik’s words, too.

But when Erik said, “We’re going to _leave_ the solar system and find a new habitable planet,” another laugh still was startled out of Xavier.

“You _do_ know,” he said and grinned and leaned in closely, “that no one has ever gone this far? Not even me?”

Erik let a small smile creep onto his lips. “I didn’t know you were the standard everybody had to follow, Xavier. And anyway, times change. We want to create a home, a world where everybody is welcome, no matter what, and so we’re going to do just that.”

A movement at the edge of the crowd attracted everybody’s attention, and when he looked around, he could see two men hailing him.

“You said you want a world where everybody is welcome, right?” the smaller one of them, blonde, with a firm jaw and eyes which had seen quite a many unpleasant things, asked.

The one beside him, all gangly limbs and dark skin and definitely a mutant – going by his smooth, hairless skin and his blank eyes –, nodded. “And by everybody, do you mean… _everybody_?”

And simultaneously, they raised their hands, tightly, intimately intertwined. Cooing and awwing filled the room for a few seconds as way was made for the two lovers so they could step forward.

Solemnly, Erik gave a nod of approval. It wasn’t like these people’s sexuality was persecuted. It was just that some bigotries never changed. “We do mean everybody. As long as you do not hurt others, you are welcome. All of you.”

Xavier hummed, put down the glass again. “Now, I will not lie, you have me intrigued. But… If I were to go with you, what would I get out of risking my life in the depths of unexplored space? Why do you even need _me_?”

Erik had anticipated these questions and worked out every ramification they could take. “Contrary to your beliefs, we have money. We can pay. And we have already hired a survival expert, both for space and for new worlds, but we need your expertise to find our way to a habitable planet.”

“The latter part of your explanation I can understand, but the former is incomprehensible to me.” Xavier leaned away, frowned. Not a good sign. “You clearly didn’t consider my wealth. I don’t need your money. And if you think you can appeal to my natural thirst for knowledge and new experiences, well, you’re wrong. I don’t need to risk my skin for an undertaking which doesn’t even have any guarantee of success.”

Time for Plan B. “We are in possession of six bottles of Black Bowmore scotch. That’s half of what is left of this specific spirit in the whole known universe. How’s that for a payment?” Erik tilted his head, minutely only, but with clear intention. _Take the bait and shut up now_.

He got an amused smile for his efforts. “Oh, darling, _I_ am in possession of the other six bottles. And, as you may know, all good things pass away. No need to make such a fuss about a few bottles of liquor.”

Groans of discontentment were rising amongst their audience. Either they were taking too long, or Xavier’s stubbornness was starting to annoy people, especially the hopeful mutants listening with rapt attention. Raven, too, seemed to have noticed, and was making her way over to them, as the movement of her belt buckle and her zippers indicated.

“However-” And once again, Xavier’s velvet voice had the whole room enthralled, and he licked his red red lips once again- “some of those good things should be enjoyed before they wither away.” And with this, he fixed his stare on Erik, the hungry look of a predator, making Erik’s fight or flight instinct rear its head, and he didn’t avert his eyes again. “Under certain conditions, I could agree.”

There was the whispering of Raven’s scales as she bristled behind Erik’s right shoulder, not having missed Xavier’s double meaning. “We should go, Erik. This will lead to nothing.”

But this wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Erik had sworn to himself that he would do anything for his people, and well, now this time seemed to have come. He raised a hand to stop his companion dead in her tracks. “Wait.” He let his gaze wander over the accumulated crowd. “In three days, our journey to a new, a better world will start, at the spaceship hangar with the number five, here, in this outpost. Everybody who doesn’t have a home, who doesn’t have a family, who is _different_ and has been shunned for it, is welcome.” And then, he gave Xavier a firm stare, and even though his next words were meant for all, it was as though he was only addressing the Professor. “We will be there. It is your choice now to decide whether you will join us or not.” And with that, he got up and nodded to Raven and Azazel. “We are leaving.”

So, they did, the blue and the red mutant flanking him as they had when they had arrived at the bar. Only now, there was a gaze burning marks into Erik’s back, insistent, curious, and with a purpose to it that made him shiver.

 _Hunger_. And not the usual one.

For the next three days, Erik waited with anticipation, a pinch of dread… and just a little sliver of shameful hope.

  
  


“See you in five hours, my love,” Irene said and gave Raven a peck on the lips, then picked up her food tray and manoeuvred out of the mess.

She must have looked wistful staring after her girlfriend, but Raven didn’t care when she settled her chin on her hand and watched Irene’s quite attractive backside disappear from view, the woman moving with surprising determination considering she was blind. At least what concerned her eyes. Her power, Raven knew, was what made her life liveable, what helped her see things in a light normal people could only dream of.

“You’re almost as bad as Lehnsherr,” came a low growl from a table nearby, followed by crunching and gnawing as the Wolverine began chewing at his meal of chicken wings and vegetables.

Raising an eyebrow lazily, Raven chose not to reply but to stare past the short, squat man and out of the glass front of the eating area. The view here was spectacular, and it made the meals the best times of her day, when she could sit down and relax from all the running around and making sure the ship didn’t fall apart or drift off into space with its cargo of a few hundred mutants.

Outside, the bleak darkness of space enveloped the billions of still stars just like black velvet would cradle precious gems, and occasionally, you could even spot a planet or an asteroid floating out there in perfect loneliness. They had been on the move for three weeks now, their space ship, the _Sunseeker_ , advancing stubbornly into an area of space were not one human soul had ever been to before. And now, it would be the mutants who were the first to move beyond humanity’s reach, to found a new world where living in peace would be the highest held aspiration. Raven couldn’t help a small smile sneaking onto her lips. Maybe, for once in her life, she wouldn’t have to live in constant fear anymore.

But first, she had to get through this god-awful journey alive. Work was weighing everyone down, they didn’t have a quiet minute and rarely ever got enough sleep. Irene and her hadn’t have a night together since the day they had taken off, and it was showing in the way they used every opportunity to steal a glance, a touch, a kiss. This apparently was the price they had to pay for finding a new home. Even the Wolverine, their expert on survival both in space and on new, strange planets, had bags under his eyes, despite his mutation which kept him almost as youthful as Raven.

Her musings were interrupted when Erik, half an hour late for lunch, stumbled in through the hatch and slumped down at the kitchen counter, hailing Sean, their cook, to hand him some of the leftovers.

When he had got them, he sat down opposite Raven, eyes betraying his guilt as he kept them firmly downcast. She sighed.

“Erik. You’re killing yourself.”

“Am not,” he mumbled between two bites, “it’s just work,” and then continued to wolf down his food so fast she almost was afraid that he would choke.

A familiar giggle floated over from the corridor leading into the bowels of the ship, a velvety chuckle, rich and deep. Erik’s head shot up as soon as he heard it, and Raven sighed some more.

“Is it, though?” She crossed her arms over her chest. Erik making puppy eyes at Xavier literally every time he caught a glance of him, or following him around like a domesticated dog, was beginning to grate on her nerves.

A furious blush was beginning to spread over the concerned man’s cheeks, and he tried to hide it by ducking further but only succeeded in making himself look more conspicuous. “Yes, Raven, yes, it’s work! I’m the leader of this mission, verdammt, I’ve got to shoulder a lot.” And he proceeded digging into his food like a madman.

Ah. “Huh. Yeah, of course.” Shooting Angel a distracted smile as the dragonfly-winged girl passed, she leaned back. “You know, there’s no use in sneaking around, you two won’t get a moment of calm anyway. Believe me, Irene and I have tried.”

“We’re not-” Now he was fuming and grappling for words, the metallokinetic who was otherwise so calculating, so down to earth (or to whatever planet they were staying on, to be precise). “You know what, I don’t owe you an explanation.” And then, having eaten only half of his meal, he got up and floated the tray over to the kitchen counter while disappearing through the doorway like the devil was on his heels.

A snort made Raven turn her head to the Wolverine. The starlight was glinting off his claws as he polished them with a handkerchief, and he was grinning and shaking his head. “Handled that well, lady. Now he won’t have a calm moment, the poor idiot, until he’s made sure that not everyone is as perceptive as you.”

She huffed. “What? They _are_ sneaking around after all. Haven’t you seen their faces when they talk with each other? Or Xavier’s hand going where Erik wouldn’t allow anybody else’s hands to go?”

“Oh, I have. But maybe next time just be quiet, yes?” The Wolverine got up and grabbed his plate. “They’re not sneaking around. Not yet, and Lehnsherr’s not happy ‘bout that. If they were, I could smell it, and for the love of god, I hope they don’t start soon.” And with that, he grimaced and left to teach his next survival training lesson.

Now she was alone in the mess, Raven found, and with delight, she got up to seat herself at a chair directly by the thick glass window. Safe for the clamour of voices and machinery faintly floating from the rest of the starship, it was quiet, as quiet as only space can be, and peacefully calm. She smiled at the unmovable stars and planets and nebulas floating by, and once again counted how many more days it would take them to reach their destination. Xavier had in fact been able to provide them with a few coordinates where he suspected habitable planets to orbit, and after further consideration with their in-house scientist Hank McCoy, they had decided for a piece made of rock and water and greenish continents. Genosha would be its name, and on its surface, a new people would find shelter and nourishment.

It had been but a dream, and now they found it slowly turning into reality. At times, when she was laying alone in her narrow bunk bed in the middle of her too-short off-duty time, Raven still had problems comprehending that what she had wished for since she had been but a child was in the process of realisation.

And more often than not, she found herself incapable of smothering the smile that arose with just this train of thoughts. Everything would be okay. Irene had told her so, and she trusted the woman she loved.

Now, she only had to survive a few more weeks of Lehnsherr and Xavier lusting after each other and failing spectacularly at hiding it.

She sighed and got up. Time to return to work.

  
  


At the exact moment Charles finally had Erik where he wanted him – writhing and whining and keening on Charles’ cot, pinned underneath him and trousers dented remarkably only minutes after they’d stumbled into the narrow cabin – the ship’s alarm sounded and all hell broke loose.

Cursing, Charles sat up, gathered his cardigan around himself and slowly began to ease his grip on Erik’s pleasure centres. “Bloody-” He didn’t get to finish, and before Erik had even registered that shit was going down (his Charles-induced arousal making him sluggish), the door flew open and Emma, the head of their guard, was standing in the frame of the hatchway.

Her diamond skin glittered like a field of freshly fallen snow, and Charles felt his cheeks flush under her scrutinising gaze. But he stood his ground, ignoring Erik’s small, sweet whimpers still coming from behind him, and asked, “What is the matter, Miss Frost?”

“Security breach,” she informed him courtly, then nodded to the metallokinetic still immobilised on the narrow bunk bed, oblivious to what was going on around him. “Sugar, if you could get him to his feet now, that would be wonderful. We need him. Immediately.” That said, she turned around, and just before closing the door, she informed him, _I’ll give you some privacy for now, but hurry_.

Metal scraped on metal, and then Charles and Erik were alone again. Outside, in the _Sunseeker_ ’s hallways, Charles could feel mutant minds ablaze with panic, confusion and grim resolve. Something, or someone, was moving through the ship, and he couldn’t get a read on them. Things were looking pretty bad.

Carefully, he retracted the last tendrils of his thoughts which he had wrapped around Erik’s mind and kneeled to be on eye-level with the semi-conscious man. And oh, he was a sight to behold indeed: eyes like swirls of grey fog and sapphire stardust, glazed over, and those delicate lips, that sharp jawline, the sweaty locks of auburn hair plastered to his forehead… Charles swallowed dryly. And that wonder of nature was all his, now.

He lifted a hand, brushed back the hair from Erik’s face. _Wake up, my sleeping beauty._ “You are needed, Captain.”

Hardly coherent, the spoken-to mumbled, tried to sit up, turned his face to press against Charles’ hand. Heart soaring, the telepath smiled and pressed forward, making Erik’s brain release a rush of adrenaline into his blood until finally, the captain opened his eyes, fully awake and disoriented.

“There you are,” Charles cooed and started buttoning up Erik’s shirt. “All pretty, all mine...”

No attention was paid to his words. “The alarm,” Erik croaked and shakily sat up, taking in their dishevelled state and the cabin they had landed in. “What-”

“Emma just came in and requested your presence,” Charles tried to say, but he only got so far before comprehension flared like the aurora borealis over Erik’s mind and the man’s eyes widened.

“Emma- She was- She saw us? Charles, how could you-”

“Calm your mind, darling.” Soothingly, Charles ran a hand up and down Erik’s arms, up and down, up and down. “She’s a telepath just like me, she won’t find anything odd about this… _sex practice_ of ours. By the way, have you cooled down sufficiently?”

Simultaneously, they looked down. Erik raised an eyebrow. “I have, but you haven’t, as it seems.”

“Oh well, screw this, then. We don’t have the time to make ourselves look presentable, anyway,” Charles scoffed and hauled Erik up. When all he got was a confused look, he explained, “The ship’s under attack, and the attackers are _inside_ already.”

Erik’s whole body tensed, and he stormed over to the door, tearing it open with his powers. “Ach verdammt- And why didn’t you tell me earlier? Charles, every minute counts!”

The attackers were closing in on them, and subsequently on the command centre, too. A hijack was in order, then. Well, Charles knew Erik _couldn’t_ , wouldn’t let that happen. “Alright, alright, I may have been overly concerned with waking you up before you get yourself killed in a horny stupor, but-”

He had followed Erik out into the hallway, where the metallokinetic was already summoning his weapon stash, but was interrupted when Erik turned to him, wild-eyed, and snarled, “Get back into the cabin. You know we shouldn’t be seen together too often.”

Charles stopped dead in his tracks. “What? Are you serious now? Erik, darling, there’s no use in sneaking around anymore!” He held up his hands when Erik growled at him like he wanted to devour him whole, and not in the sexual way. “Alright, calm down, it’s not like we were particularly good at it in the first place. And now Emma knows, and we really should make it official, you know?”

It was an astounding display to see the anger seep from Erik’s features just to be replaced with bemusement and a tiny, barely-there dash of hope. “Make _what_ official?” Oh, the man’s mind was lighting up like a supernova, and Charles knew he would never find anything comparable, not in the whole wide universe.

“Well, the thing between us.” He stepped past Erik to grab a gun and ammunition, getting himself armed so the intruders moving towards them would get a nasty surprise. “And-” He turned, gave Erik a peck on the lips and smiled that one smile that he _knew_ made Erik want to get on his knees and devote his entire life to Charles and Charles only- “we both know there is _something_ , yes?”

Swallowing, Erik breathed a shy, star-struck “yes”. Charles had him wrapped around his finger, this he was more than certain of, and well, he didn’t mind at all. Erik was an extraordinary man, and if Charles could keep him, then he would hold onto him with all his might. For some things, you only got one chance in life.

Suddenly, there were voices in the hallway behind their backs, screams, shouted commands, and then the smell of sweat and fear and plasma rays burning through metal and ceramics. Like one man, they started towards the junction, covering each other as best as they could. In Erik’s hands, a state-of-the-art ray gun glowed, and about a dozen more were floating around him in the air as he manipulated them with his powers. It was a display like a billion suns being born, the magnetic fields contorting and simmering around him as Charles looked through Erik’s eyes, and he marvelled at the power of the man he had reduced to pleas and whimpers just a quarter of an hour ago.

 _Extraordinary_. As he had known for so long already, since that day the man had walked into his bar.

Huffing, Erik crouched down to peer around the corner and assess the situation. “Fuck. Those idiots really just had to show up at the very moment we finally got some time alone, didn’t they?”

“Indeed.” Charles positioned himself over Erik, gun at the ready as he reached out to the fleeing mutants and gave them instructions to hide or defend themselves. “But don’t worry, we can resume our _activity_ later on.”

He got a grunt in response. Borrowing Erik’s eyes, he got a glimpse of what was moving ahead of them: Three figures in black space gear, faces hidden beneath masks of dark glass. They had guns, too, and big ones at that.

But oh well, nothing Charles and Erik couldn’t handle.

Then, Janos darted through a hatch and onto the junction, diving for cover into the hallway opposite the one Charles and Erik had found shelter in as plasma rays burst of the wall and scarred the tapestry (no tragedy, Charles knew Erik had never liked the colour anyway).

“Janos, what’s the situation?” Erik shouted, and Charles transmitted the question to the deaf man via telepathy. Immediately, Janos began to sign, frantic, but with fervour.

“Space Pirates. A dozen attackers, nine down, injured or dead.” Charles kept up a running commentary for Erik to understand. “Only three injuries on our side, non-fatal. They’re making for the bridge, to take over control. Only three to go now.” And then, it got really interesting. “Oh. They’re wearing blockers, that’s why I can’t get a fix on them! Wait, Janos is sending me the design, he’s seen them-” Charles pushed hazy glimpses of devices coiled around the intruders’ ears, looking a little bit like ancient hearing aids, into Erik’s orderly mind, watched as his lover reached out to identify matching metal parts and then disabled them.

Like candles being lit, he saw one mind blink into existence around the corner, then two- “You’ve got them, Erik, good! Okay, let’s shut them down...” Concentrating, he homed in on their nerve centres and scrambled the signals for a millisecond, more than enough time for their guns to clatter to the ground and their bodies to follow them suit.

Grinning, Charles lowered his gun, “We’re clear,” stepped from the cover and into the adjoining hallway. Janos was gesturing at him, damn, couldn’t the boy slow down his talking? Why was he pointing one finger up like-

“Charles, wait!” It was Erik, reaching for him, naked panic in his eyes. “One of them-”

Pain.

In his lower back.

He knew something was wrong when his legs would support him no more and the floor came up to meet him.

There was a figure in black standing over him, and then they weren’t anymore because a metal beam had shot forward and impaled them on the wall opposite Charles in a bloody, wretched mess. Yes, the tapestry was definitely ruined now. Oh, and there was Erik looming over him, worry coiling like tangled wire in his head, and he was shouting as Janos hurried over to them, and there were tears in his eyes… Now, come to think of it, Charles’ vision was slowly blurring, too. How odd.

“Charles? Charles, Liebling, Schatz, can you hear me?” Erik’s voice slowly faded back into existence, like a bad movie effect after someone had been shot or something.

“Of course I can hear you,” Charles muttered, frowned and blinked away the water pooling in his eyes. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“I- I’m fine, I-” Like shoes crunching on gravel, Erik’s voice broke. “But you-”

Even though it cost him a surprising amount of strength, Charles lifted a hand to cup Erik’s cheek and wipe away the tears spilling freely now, the worry lines cutting deep into the skin around Erik’s beautiful, beautiful lips and eyes and brows.

Janos had disappeared somewhere, and in the distance, someone was yelling, “We need a doctor! Hank! Hank, get Hank McCoy!”

“Please.” Erik was choking, the poor boy, and Charles couldn’t guess why. “Please, stay with me, I love you-”

Charles chuckled, surprised. “I love you, too, Erik.” Speaking was getting difficult, like there were stones piled up high on his chest. But the words wouldn’t stop wringing themselves from his throat. “And why should I go? You know-” He had to take a laboured breath, then one more, what was going on?- “what we have has only just begun.” There was an uneasy prickling in the small of his back, and something was wrong, but he couldn’t be bothered because Erik was here and that was all that mattered-

And then Erik, the _Sunseeker_ , the world winked out of existence, until only darkness enveloped him.

  
  


The dawn had just begun to kiss awake the sky and the lands of grassy, rolling hills when Logan awoke. From outside, the smell of the cooking station was drifting into his makeshift hut assembled from the _Sunseeker_ ’s hull, and voices were filling the air like buzzing insects.

Genosha was waking up. A new day lay ahead.

He cleaned up, put on a fresh flannel and stepped outside. And really, the rest of the team had already gathered at the table under the open sky, Armando and Alex helping Sean pass around oatmeal and scrambled eggs and the juice of the fruit they had found growing in a copse of tree-like organisms not too far off. Between the small assembly of huts, the dew glittered on the blades of grass like Frost’s body when she was cautious, which was the case more and more seldomly these days.

It was a beautiful morning, and Logan felt pride swell in his chest. He had been one of those who had made this paradise possible, by finding this planet and building this base camp out of theirt repurposed space ship where the hopeful mutants and the occasional human flocking to Genosha were welcomed, prepared for survival and then sent out to settle in the surrounding hills and valleys. They weren’t here to colonise. No, they had chosen to go for the good old hunter-and-gatherer strategy instead, and it wasn’t like they didn’t have enough space. They just wanted a safe place, and now, the dream Lehnsherr and so many others had had for years, decades, centuries, was slowly coming true.

“Hey man,” Sean greeted as Logan joined the others, “looking hungry, my dude! Care for some breakfast?”

“Sure,” Logan grunted and nodded a greeting to the rest of the table. Excitement lay heavy in the air, and everyone’s eyes were glinting as they wolfed down their food. A new load of immigrants today, then. They had to be at their best.

On the bench facing him, MacTaggert and Lehnsherr were deep in conversation. The human who had joined them out of curiosity and a will to help looked tired, exhausted, but Lehnsherr beat her easily with his own looks. There were bags under his eyes, lines on his face which hadn’t been there when they had set out from Triton, and his posture was slumped, heavy with tiredness.

Logan supposed its cause wasn’t solely setting up a Genoshan government, or receiving the mutants arriving weekly. No, he _also_ supposed part of it had to do with the attack, and what had happened to Charles.

Suddenly, Lehnsherr looked up to meet his eyes, shaping and re-shaping his coffee mug absent-mindedly. “We’ve got two cargo ships incoming around noon today, each with about a hundred passengers, and they’ve already been drilled for registration.” He winced, began massaging the bridge of his nose. One of his headaches again, then. Getting used to a new magnetic field while running around day and night wasn’t easy, as it seemed. “Ugh. So, Logan, I would be grateful if you could scout out the landing area one last time, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure will, bub.” Logan frowned, exchanged a glance with Moira who finally spoke up.

“Erik, you know, any time you feel like it’s too much, like you need a rest… Just tell us, yes? We can handle all this for a day or two.”

Lehnsherr snorted and carded a hand through his hair, leaned back, scowled. “It’s okay. No, really.”

That was a lie, and Logan could smell it ten miles against the wind. “C’mon, Lehnsherr. We all know you’re a strong guy, but-”

“But he’s got me to help him,” a voice came from the nearest shack, and all heads at the table turned.

Xavier, sporting an impressive case of bed hair, wheeled himself over the grassy ground and to the table at Logan’s side, smiling a mild _Good morning_ at everybody and then giving Lehnsherr that special grin he seemed to only have reserved for that man and that man only.

Logan rolled his eyes. “Great. Your better half has arrived, Lehnsherr.”

McCoy was leaning over from the other end of the table. “Charles. Um, Professor. How’s the implant working, for your lower spine?”

“Fine and dandy.” Giving silent thanks to Angel, Charles took a plate with fruit and scrambled eggs from her. “I can already do this. Wait for it...” Something shuffled under the table.

Lehnsherr yelped in surprise and nearly fell of the bench. “Verdammt, your feet are-”

“Icy, I know.” Circles under his eyes matching Lehnsherr’s but grinning, Xavier nicked the metalbender’s cup of coffee and took a sip. “You can warm them later, darling.”

Raven was making barfing noises in the background, with Irene laughing uncontrollably, and Moira gave a short cough. “Well. Nice to see you up, too, Charles. I trust you already know today’s planning?”

A nod, then again that smile meant for Lehnsherr only. “I do, thank you. We’ll be ready.”

“Yes, we will,” Lehnsherr, the damn bastard, uttered and smiled back, a tired twitching of his lips, but with a fondness to his eyes Logan had never seen in any other human being.

“Okay, I’m out.” Logan shovelled the last of his food into his mouth and got up. “Moira, just be careful with those two. We don’t want _them going at it_ in the _damn middle of a field_ to be the first thing our new arrivals get to see.”

Laughter followed him down the hilltop, the deep baritone of Azazel as he took it upon himself to torment Lehnsherr and Xavier further, Emma’s tinkling giggle and the whirring of Angel’s dragonfly wings as she took to the air to begin her daily patrol of the settlements further out.

Logan smiled. Yes, it was a beautiful morning indeed.

  
  


The mole-like herbivores predominant in the region hadn’t started another attempt at regaining the terrain Alex had levelled with his plasma beams, as Logan had reported dutifully, and now Erik and Charles were standing at the edge of the airfield, watching as Armando and Janos piloted the landing space ships into the right spot. The large vessels were blocking out the sun, their engines’ roaring making the bones of everybody on the ground clatter. Erik was scanning their hulls, and Charles was riding along on the high his partner got from prodding at all the metal constructions, fitting together like a perfect jigsaw puzzle.

“They’re safe,” Erik finally declared as he retracted his powers and focussed them on Charles’ wheelchair instead.

The telepath nodded and took his fingers from his temple. “Good. Same can be said about the passengers. They come in peace.”

For a while, they stood in silence and just enjoyed the heavy machines landing gracefully on the ground, like fragile dragonflies. Then, the people started piling out, lugging their sparse belongings with them.

“Extraordinary,” Charles uttered at Erik’s side, and Erik turned his head and wanted to agree that yes, it was indeed an astonishing sight to see so many people seeking to join them, so far out from the solar system, when he noted that Charles wasn’t even looking at the space ships. No, his blue, blue eyes were entirely focussed on Erik, and Erik alone.

Suddenly, his throat felt dry, and his heart was thumping hard in his chest. Some things would never change, apparently. “How so?”

“You’re… _you_.” Charles reached out to take Erik’s hand in his, cradle it softly like an exotic butterfly. “You know, if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have stayed here, at the arse-end of the world.” Oh, he truly meant it, with his innermost being.

And he knew Erik knew. For the man smiled tenderly, and then got to his knees at Charles’ side and kissed him, on his forehead, on his cheeks, on his nose and then, finally, on his lips, so that Charles could respond in kind.

“Um,” came Alex’s voice from behind their back, but Emma’s cut him off quite quickly.

“No worries, sugar, they’ll know when to stop. Let’s leave them to it, for now.” And she strode past them, glittering in the sun’s light like a billion stars, Moira and Alex following close behind.

“She’s so sure of what she just said,” Erik remarked when they were out of earshot.

Charles hummed. “Shall we prove her wrong, my darling?”

Feeling a blush building in his cheeks, Erik eyed the approaching space travellers making for the base camp. “Maybe not right now.”

“Later, then.” Charles was grinning and stroking Erik’s cheek. “You know, we shouldn’t have any new arrivals for the next nine days or so. I think some holidays in our mutant paradise are in order.”

Erik wanted to disagree, to say that they really didn’t have time, that there were so many things to do- but that would have been a lie.

“Also,” Charles was saying and pointing to his feet so Erik would see his toes wiggling in his shoes, “I’ve got some of my... _mobility_ back.” A wink, a smile which could have filled books, and Erik was sold. “You know what that means.”

“I do,” Erik breathed, with that husky undertone Charles loved so much he could cry.

He shook his head. “I never thought I would meet someone so special that I would follow him into the unknown of space and give up all I’ve ever known.”

“But now you have,” Erik said and leaned up to nuzzle Charles throat. “And as soon as the liquor you ordered arrives, you’ll see that you’re still a pretty decent bartender.”

 _True. Oh-so very true_. And Charles looked up to the sky and prodded at Erik’s mind until he was granted entrance, and then he shared what he had been feeling ever since he had first set foot (or rather, wheel) on this strange, promising planet.

He marvelled. Because as he delved deeper into the metalbender’s mind, he discovered that Erik had felt exactly the same way all along. Their grip on each others’ hands tightened.

 _Oh no. We wouldn’t want to be_ anywhere _else._

**Author's Note:**

> And with that, I hope you had some fun time in space :D or well, in Genosha, or that bar. Whatever. If there are any inaccuracies you'd like to point out, feel free to do so in the comment section! And if you just want to leave some love, please do so as well <3 thank you for reading!


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